Colombia vs. Argentina Reaction: Steve Nicol LOVES watching CONMEBOL 🍿 | ESPN FC

as uh Colombia beats Argentina in barania by a final score of 2 to1 getting some measure of Vengeance for the defeat they suffered in the Copa Amica final just a few months ago as we take a look at the qualifying Table Columbia staying unbeaten through their eight games played so far now just two points back of your table leaders the defending Copa and World Cup champions Argentina uh Al where do we start here with the the win for Colombia the the loss for Argentina what's the bigger headline I think it's the win for Colombia uh and and I believe that Colombia did a lot of things well in this game and particularly speeding up the game once they got into the attacking half and forcing Argentina to defend and the involvement of James Rodriguez and we have talked about this many a times how do you use him and how do you take advantage of the things that he can still do well for you but while I I think I I can appreciate Colombia's performance it goes hand inand with the lack of attention to detail by Argentina and things that we usually would say you know Argentina is the sort of team that doesn't make a lot of mistakes and if you are defending a set piece against Colombia and Colombia sends two players for their corner kick and you only send one and one of those players oh by the way that Colombia has out there is Hames Rodriguez you may want to stay with a guy that can serve a ball Argentina doesn't send out two players they send one and then Rodrigo deul makes a decision uh yeah uh I'm GNA leave Hamed Rodriguez open and he's going to stand the ball up in the back post now that's one part of the play but on the second part of the play how in the world when LEL Escalon and his staff are putting together the defenses set pieces in a corner kick they say Lisandro Martinez J M Lisandro Martinez J mosa Lisandro Martinez J mosa that ball got hung up at the back post and he dunked on him I mean he left him behind dunked on him and you're thinking how does that make sense in the because this is one of the few things that you can prepare for is the matchups in corner kicks how is that an actual decision made by the staff so the lack of attention to detail by Argentina in this match I thought was exposed by Colombia and jamus Rodriguez continues to be the story was the story in the assist in that first goal was the story in the penalty kick but was also the story in the fact that he gave the pass to Niko Gonzalez or Argentina go and yet people in Colombia won't remember that one bit because what they think and know and love about jamed Rodriguez is that when the penalty kick happened the one guy that they know should be taking that penalty kick is Hamed Rodriguez they took it as well as he could have perfect in the execution Colombia win it I think it's a big big win for Colombia we've been kind of asking the question on this show not not just throughout the summer when they were having the great cop on Meda but but in light of the recent results is Columbia a true like World Cup not maybe favorite but among the favorites right and if you actually look at the odds makers the odds makers say no you think they are absolutely ODS maker say Brazil how do you want to explain that one tell what you go and ask big betting Market I guess you go and ask the manager of France Spain England Germany po do they want Colombia no they don't want any part of Colombia nothing why specifically how long have we got well you watch listen this was this was a fantastic game from start to finish personally I love com ball it is it takes it's it's like a bit old school MH the competitive I love you the way and the way the game's refereed as well it's a little they they swallow their whist well you like that all the time there's no downtime there's no everybody's at it they don't like each other it's quite clear regardless of whether he your teammate in a club in a club match they'll kick lumps out each other for fun yeah and the level of play is fantastic I mean it's everything about it's great and for Argentina yes I agree with Ali they made some mistakes but then what the best teams do is they take advantage of mistakes regardless of whether it's Argentina or or Finland or anybody else they take advantage but the whole thing was brilliant they watch it's just it's a diff it's as I said it I love it cuz you it takes me a little a we bit back in time to where it was it was about everything it was about great play it was about great players it was about goals the crowd was brilliant the atmosphere I mean it was just we're in we in South America Scotland loc my geography is way off you know uh the the mistakes aside the corner kick and not you know rushing James Rodriguez not pressuring him the the penalty kick they give up I actually thought artina were were pretty decent and I was very interested in how they were going to line up with no Messi because that's really a big part of this story here is is life after Messi for Argentina and they went two up top julan Alvarez and L Martinez one shot on target they were dangerous though if you watch this game there's there's one where julan Alvarez pressures Camilo varas a goalkeeper for Colombia picks his pocket decides to shoot with the left instead of the right and the ball trinkles across the net there's another one julan Alvarez martinz Martinez the one that julan Alvarez gives him a One V one opportunity he steps on it yeah so they had their opportunities they were actually very decent I love nicoo Fernandez or Gonzalez excuse me and what he's been able to accomplish since he moved from Fiorentina or since his Fiorentina uh time last season to now he's taking advantage of noan Maria this looks more like a team that's difficult to play against they pressure you very well but you ask Stevie why are they so difficult to play against Colombia they can beat you so many different ways I mean you saw two setpiece goals today they could move the ball uh with these in the final third they can play pretty football they can be direct they have players on set p pieces that are some absolute trees they've got a very special player in Jam Rodriguez with that left foot he puts the ball anywhere he wants Luis Diaz whether it's his day or not you have to be mindful of he's an X Factor and what blows my mind is when you look at the roster that this team has and look at where these players play Camilo Vargas plays in Atlas in Mexico uh some of these players the best place or platform they have is Crystal Palace in the Premier League Co Hernandez called in coo Hernandez called in so you get quality performances with respect almost out of nowhere and they are so so difficult to play against much so that the last team not named Argentina to beat him was two years ago January 28th two years ago 90minut games because they lost in overtime in the cup America final 30 straight games undefeated this is a very difficult team to play against and one that if today the World Cup was going would be a candidate and and to all of that you add the fact that how do we play hamus Rodriguez because you have guys around him like Richard Rios like Jefferson LMA that are going to do the work Adas as well guys that will do the work so that hamus can give you the magic and all of that works as long as hamus is giving you the magic and I tell you among the very outstanding performances of Colombia and you you can highlight many of players but the work and I love them in Copa America Rich Rios for me is one of one of the I guess most underappreciated players in in South America he has been outstanding for a while for this national team because he's a true presence both in the defensive half and the attacking half but in the defensive half in particular what he does is that covers and runs a space that hamus is not willing and it's not going to run for you and so the job of LMA Rios Aras those guys they make it so very difficult for other teams because they're working this way and they're working this way as well they're working they're getting up there they're getting back and then they're cing side to side it's a really good team that is structured really well and is playing with a lot of confidence all that work it's Columbia the 2-1 victory over Argentina in [Music]